INSULIN HORMONE

People measure fat loss by looking at their abs in the mirror, but it is the last place from which your body burns fat. Fat is spread unevenly all around your body that is one of the reason why your left chest may look bigger or smaller than your right chest. Your stomach is the last resort of stored fat energy for your body and it is hesitant to burn off that fat, so it starts burning fat from all other parts and then only it will start to burn fat from your belly. (Now your body hates you!)

Your body has two sources of stored energy; the primary is from fat stored around your body and secondary is the glycogen stored in muscles and liver.

Glycogen is nothing but glucose (blood sugar) which your body uses for its daily activities. Whenever you eat food your blood sugar goes up and when you don't eat for longer periods of time it drops.

Whenever your stomach is empty or when you are on low carb for two days your body starts burning glycogen stored in your muscle and liver, when it runs out of the secondary energy source it goes into the primary source that is the fat storage. Your glycogen store gets depleted after a strenuous workout or after long hours of sleep.

But it is not a good idea to keep your glycogen stores in a depleted state for too long, when you eat less carbohydrate for more than a time period of 48 hours your body starts burning your muscle for energy.

How to replenish glycogen storage?

Eat foods which are high in glycemic index which gets converted into glucose instantly but how does your body inject this glucose into your glycogen storage?

ENTER THE INSULIN HORMONE (SLOW CLAP)

Consider your muscles as a door and insulin as a key to open that door. Whenever you eat food your body (pancreas) releases these keys to open your muscle doors so that the body can inject this glucose from food to replenish your glycogen stores thereby aiding in muscle building and recovery.

After a workout your blood sugar levels will go down and all glycogen stores will be in a depleted state so when you eat foods high in GI value you spike up your insulin, this process is known as insulin spiking which is nothing but raising your blood sugar level back to the normal value thus making your body go anabolic.